


Loss

by neverminetohold



Series: KakaNaru Drabbles [10]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, M/M, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-17
Updated: 2013-07-17
Packaged: 2017-12-20 12:05:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/887066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neverminetohold/pseuds/neverminetohold
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Naruto came home to find Konoha in ruins...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Loss

Naruto arrived in Konoha to find his home in ruins. The crater of the explosion had swallowed most of the town and what had escaped instant destruction had been pushed as debris right into its walls. Some of it had spilled through the shattered gates and into the forest.  
  
The only living things left were birds, swarms of them, crying and calling as they fled. Naruto didn't feel it as his nails dug into the palms of hands; he was so numb that even his anger faded to nothing.  
  
"Everyone in this district is dead."  
  
His own words sounded hollow to his ears, as if he couldn't quite grasp their meaning. Heat pooled behind the seal and burned in his guts, but Naruto was still aware enough to avoid giving in to the rising waves of pure hatred that might have been his own.  
  
He moved on, through clouds of choking dust that eddied in the air around him. Tiny shrapnel of destroyed buildings nicked his skin; the cuts healed instantly. His sandals crunched over bare earth as Naruto picked his way over broken bricks and wooden beams.  
  
Strands of silver-white swayed softly in the breeze before him, obscuring the lines of a face he had had barely time to trace with his fingers.  
  
Naruto didn't cry, couldn't, not when Kakashi looked so peaceful in his knowledge that he had fallen giving all he had to protect Konoha. Naruto had felt it, how his chakra had flared once before it flickered and faded; a life snuffed like a candle.  
  
He shouldn't stay here. The battle was taking place further to the north. Here was nothing to be done; the only signs of Konoha's surviving citizens were gathered elsewhere.  
  
Naruto turned around and walked away. He would summon Fukasaku and the other toads, like he had promised when he had rushed ahead. He would find Pain and stop him, no matter what it would take, just like Kakashi would have wanted.  
  
He would have time to mourn his losses later. And he would learn to live with them.

  
  
[ _A ninja is one who endures._  ~ Naruto; The Road to Ninja]

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the theme prompt “sensation of loss.”


End file.
